Russia’s Rail-Gun Passed Its First Tests5 out of 5 based on 5 ratings. 5 user reviews.

Russia’s Rail-Gun Passed Its First Tests

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Photo: TASS / Sergey Savostianov

The testing of the so-called rail-gun were held in the Laboratory of Pulse Energy Effects on Matter in Shatura, in the Moscow region, the Scientific Russia news portal reported.

The rail-gun is an electromagnetic gun, capable to accelerate the projectile to the first and second cosmic speed. The second cosmic speed is a speed of an overcoming of the gravity – a little more than 11 kilometers per second. This means that, theoretically, the electromagnetic accelerator is able to put in orbit an actual load.

According to the one of the main developers of the rail-gun, the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Fortov, the development of the gun is primarily connected with space exploration. However, at the same time, Fortov noted that “the rail-gun is directly related to weapons.”

Magnetic guns are called perspective tools of destruction. Their projectile is able to fly further and faster than standard missiles. In addition, the projectile can not explode, it takes up less space, and its cost is much lower than the price of modern ammunitions.

Fortov said that the maximum speed of the projectile, fired from the Russia’s rail-gun, is 11 kilometers per second. However, construction parts wear out very fast due to enormous energy. The search for materials that are able to withstand this load is the main task for scientists now.